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Per Möller

Per Möller

Professor

Per Möller

Unveiling the Ecological Applications of Ancient DNA from Mollusk Shells

Author

  • Clio Der Sarkissian
  • Per Möller
  • Courtney Hofman,
  • Peter Ilsøe
  • Torben Rick
  • Tom Schiøtte
  • Martin Vinther Sørensen
  • Love Dalén
  • Ludovic Orlando

Summary, in English

The shells of marine mollusks represent promising metagenomic archives of the past, adding to bones, teeth, hairs, and environmental samples most commonly examined in ancient DNA research. Seminal work has established that DNA recovery from marine mollusks depends on their shell microstructure, preservation and disease state, and that authentic ancient DNA could be retrieved from specimens as old as 7,000 years. Here, we significantly push the temporal limit for shell DNA recovery to 100,000 years with the successful genetic characterization of one Portlandia arctica and one Mytilus mussel sample collected within a dated permafrost layer from the Taimyr Peninsula, Russia. We expand the analysis of ancient DNA in carbonate shells to a larger number of genera (Arctica, Cernuella, Crassostrea, Dreissena, Haliotis, Lymnaea, Margaritifera, Pecten, Ruditapes, Venerupis) from marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. We demonstrate that DNA from ancient shells can provide sufficient resolution for taxonomic, phylogenetic and/or population assignment. Our results confirm mollusk shells as long-term DNA reservoirs, opening new avenues for the investigation of environmental changes, commercial species management, biological invasion, and extinction. This is especially timely in light of modern threats to biodiversity and ecosystems.

Department/s

  • Quaternary Sciences

Publishing year

2020-01-07

Language

English

Publication/Series

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Volume

8

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Frontiers Media S. A.

Topic

  • Geology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Status

Published

Project

  • Taymyr revisited - a quest for former Eurasian Ice Sheets margins and megafauna extinction during the last glacial cycles

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2296-701X